Piccolo Pre-School Nursery

Piccolo Pre-School Nursery
Unique reference number (URN): EY371480
Address: Chute Recreation Ground, Vyne Road, Sherbourne St. John, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG24
9HX
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 09/04/2008
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Piccolo Pre-School Nursery Limited
Inspection report: 17 November 2025
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement

Expected standard
Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for
governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open
culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively
identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all
legal requirements are met.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Staff promote acceptable attendance. For example, they provide parents with opportunities
to stagger their drop off times to accommodate their needs. When all the children are
present, they gather together to do a welcome song to start the day, helping children have
positive attitudes to their learning.
Staff have high expectations for behaviour and are positive role models. Children play well
together and staff provide lots of praise, when children complete activities. This helps to
promote children's sense of belonging and self-esteem. Children play alongside each other
and create constructions with the wooden building blocks. They persevere, fitting them into
small spaces and picking them up when they fall, showing determination as they start to
build again.
Children understand the rules and boundaries and know the routines. For example, they
realise when the bell rings it is time to tidy up and they all join in, putting away the toys and
equipment.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Overall, staff know their key children well and form good relationships with them. They
welcome children when they arrive. Staff support children if they are upset, and they settle
quickly and join in with the activities. This helps to support their emotional wellbeing. Staff
help children to gain an understanding of the importance of physical development and
personal safety. Since the last inspection, the outdoor area has been improved to provide
more opportunities for children to work together and improve their motor skills. Staff remind
children of basic safety rules as they play with the resources, helping them to identify how to
keep themselves and their friends safe.

Needs attention
Staff help children to understand the importance of healthy lifestyles. They provide fresh fruit
at snack time and talk to the children about the importance of good hygiene, reminding them
to wash their hands after using the toilet and before meals. Staff support children to pour
their own drinks and help themselves to fruit at snack time. They encourage children to put
on their coats and boots to go outside. This helps to build their confidence and
independence skills.
Achievement Needs attention
Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who
speak English as an additional language, make some progress from their starting points.
However, this is not consistent. For the most part, children achieve some knowledge and
skills across the areas of learning. For example, they enjoy looking at books and storytelling,
which helps children achieve in their communication skills. Children join in at song times and
show an understanding of early mathematics, for example, as they count during the number
rhymes and songs. However, children are not consistently gaining the broad range of skills
they need to support them to achieve the next stage in their learning, such as when they go
to school, through adaptations to the curriculum.
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Leaders do not have an effective oversight of the curriculum. Leaders and staff use themes
as a basis for their curriculum. However, they do not always incorporate children's individual
needs and development into this. There is not enough differentiation in the teaching of the
activities to meet the needs of all children, including those with special educational needs
and/or disabilities. Leaders and staff are currently working on their curriculum delivery and
the implementation of this is in its infancy. They have sought advice from the local authority
and have been working hard to make changes to the provision.
Staff know their children well and work effectively with other agencies to gain information to
support children's learning and development. This helps staff to understand the children and
be able to meet their personal and social needs. Staff have reduced the play space in the
hall, which has given them the opportunity to have an area for large-group work and
physical activity when the weather is poor. Staff prioritise children's physical development
and support children well in this area, providing many opportunities for them to develop their
fine and gross motor skills, inside and outside. Leaders and staff create smaller areas for
learning, such as the role-play area. Children enjoy serving 'pizzas' and share them with
their friends. Staff join in this make-believe play, encouraging children to participate in
discussions. This helps to develop children's communication and language skills.
Staff gain information about what children know and can do when they start at the pre-
school. However, since leaders introduced changes to the planning, staff have insufficient
time to keep this information current. Staff do not always plan and implement effective next
steps for their key children. Consequently, although children enjoy the activities, these are

not targeted sufficiently to meet their individual needs. This does not ensure children make
the best possible progress in their learning.
Inclusion Needs attention
Leaders do not have a good enough understanding of their role to support children who may
have barriers to their learning. Leaders are familiar with the processes to follow if they
identify children who need additional support. They know to work in partnership with other
agencies to help children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff
use appropriate approaches to support children, such as signing during song times, to help
children who are developing their communication skills. As a result, all children including
those with SEND or English as an additional language (EAL) learn to sign familiar words.
Staff do not always include children with SEND or EAL in the overall planning for the setting.
As a result, there are no specific daily programmes in place to target support. Children join
in the activities, such as story and song times, with support from staff. However, at other
times there is no provision for purposeful play and they become disengaged in their
learning.
Leadership and governance Needs attention
The provider does not have effective oversight of the setting. They do not consistently
implement some procedures, for example, to monitor the effectiveness of the curriculum or
review the quality of teaching and ongoing suitability. Leaders do not consider staff's
workload, which has led to ineffective use of observations to assess and plan for children's
next steps, so they are all included and engaged in appropriate learning. Consequently,
while children have made some development since joining the setting, they are not making
consistent progress from their starting points, including those children with special
educational needs and/or disabilities.
Staff report that their personal wellbeing is good. However, they do not receive regular
supervision to discuss their workloads. There is also limited access to more specific training.
This does not ensure staff's knowledge and skills reflect current trends and research to
enable them to provide the best opportunities for children.
Staff work well with parents and provide advice and activities to help support their children's
learning at home. Parents report they are happy with the provision their children receive.

What it's like to be a child at this setting
Leaders do not consistently support staff in their professional development to carry out their
roles successfully. They do not help staff use assessment adequately to adapt the
curriculum to meet individual children's needs, including those children with special
educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional
language (EAL), to prepare them for their next steps in learning.
Children arrive happily and separate from their parents with ease. They find their names on
the table and add to the registration board. Staff help children place their bags next to the
photos in the changing rooms. This helps children to feel safe and secure.
Staff set up a range of activities for children to access, based on termly themes. Children
are independent and move around the setting freely, accessing the available resources.
However, some activities are very adult directed. For example, the children talk about
autumn following a walk and staff produce photocopied sheets of hedgehogs for the children
to decorate. This does not allow opportunities for the children to be creative or promote a
sense of achievement.
Children demonstrate good communication skills as they talk about the trees they have in
their gardens. Staff join in with the conversations, showing interest in the children's home
lives. This helps children to develop a sense of belonging and encourages their confidence
as they speak in the small group.
All children, including those with SEND and EAL make some progress from their starting
points. However, the lack of focused planning and the use of assessments does not ensure
that all children make the best progress.
Next steps
To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the
following actions by the assigned date:
Action Completion
Date
provide regular, relevant and appropriate professional learning and
expertise opportunities and constructive feedback for all
practitioners, which equips them to carry out their roles successfully
01/12/2025
ensure that all leaders and staff have the knowledge, understanding
and oversight to carry out their roles effectively
05/01/2026
use assessment consistently to reflect on the different rates at which
children learn and adjust the curriculum to fully support children's
development
05/01/2026

Inspector:
Lindsay Osman
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): EY371480
Address:
Chute Recreation Ground, Vyne Road
Sherbourne St. John
Basingstoke
Hampshire
RG24 9HX
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 09/04/2008
Registered person: Piccolo Pre-School Nursery Limited
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Friday : 08:30 - 14:30,Thursday : 08:30 -
14:00
Local authority: Hampshire
Facts and figures used on inspection
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with the nominated individual, leaders, practitioners and children during
the inspection.
We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the
quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The
registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for
children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.
A quality assurance visit by an additional inspector was carried out at this inspection.

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 17 November 2025
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
2 to 4
Total number of places
32
Our grades explained
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are
following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional
standards expected of them.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects
and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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